Jueves Santo, Zaragoza

Holy Thursday is the second most important day of Easter in Spain. Moving religious processions with their icons, snare and bass drums, rattles, saetas (songs spontaneously sung to the image of Christ by people watching the procession in the street or from their windows, for which the procession must stop) and flowers take over several of the city's streets. At midday there is the solemn procession by the Coronacion de Espinas fraternity at the Iglesia San Felipe. After the mass to celebrate the Last Supper, the procession of Silence begins, leaving from the Iglesia San Pablo. The procession takes place through the streets of the old town, and one of its stops is at the Baslica del Pilar. Finally there is the procession of Nuestra Senora de la Esperanza which dates from the 18th Century.